Judge Extends Order for N.Y. Green Party

TARA BURGHART

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, January 15, 2003

Associated Press Writer

A federal judge on Thursday gave another temporary reprieve to New York's Green Party, which is fighting a law that calls for Green voters to lose their official status as party members on the state's voting rolls.

U.S. District Judge John Gleeson extended a December restraining order barring the state from enforcing the law for now. He asked the party and the state Board of Elections to submit briefs by Jan. 30 and said he would issue a ruling soon after, said Jeremy Creelan, the lead attorney for the Green Party.

The case stems from the fact that the environmentally oriented Green Party failed to collect the 50,000 votes in November's gubernatorial race needed to maintain its status as a recognized party in New York.

State law calls for the party to lose its automatic place on the statewide ballot. The party's members become unenrolled or independent voters for election purposes, and the party can't enroll new members until it achieves ballot status again.

In a lawsuit filed last month in Brooklyn, the Green Party did not challenge its loss of a ballot spot. But it argued that New York is one of only three states that prohibit people from enrolling in the party of their choice if the party is not on the ballot. The provisions violate the free-association right of the Constitution's First Amendment and the 14th Amendment's equal-protection clause, the party argued.

Lee Daghlian, a spokesman for the Board of Elections, said that while the restraining order remains in effect the state will not change the voter registration forms or registration lists.

For the state's lawyers, "the basic argument is that this is state election law and they are defending the election law," Daghlian said.